Geothermal PPAs and the need for new transmission lines in California were the focus of the Geothermal Energy Association summit that took place in early August.

California, USA --
The Geothermal Energy Association is working with California energy authorities to help restart the flow of state utility power purchase agreements made with geothermal electricity generators, after close to a year's doldrums. Karl Gawell, executive director of the Washington-based GEA, said, "There is no question that geothermal is stalled in California. We need PPAs and transmission lines, and this year it is particularly important to see how (Western) states are working together to solve this," addressing a small roundtable group during the National Geothermal Summit, last Wednesday in Sacramento.

Paul Thompsen, the current president of GEA and the director of policy and business development at Reno-based Ormat Technologies suggested that one reason the flow of PPAs has dried up in California is that many utilities are now comfortable that they will be able hit the state's 33 percent renewable energy portfolio standard target, and thus have cut back on contracting for renewable power, and particularly for geothermal energy. Another perhaps more crucial reason, he suggested, is that utilities in the state have been focusing on forging renewable energy PPAs at the lowest cost per kilowatt-hour -- like those provided by wind and solar photovoltaics plants – without taking into account the fact that their intermittent nature necessitates development of other forms of power for times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. Hence, there is insufficient focus on the real cost of integrating wind and solar resources to the grid.

Since geothermal plants operate 24/7 as base-load contributors, industry officials say that geothermal generators cannot be compared on an apples-to-apples basis to peak-time-oriented solar and wind generation sources, which are variable in their temporal contribution to the grid. Once transmission and other connection costs are integrated, geothermal energy is less expensive, several industry leaders at the conference claimed. Who pays for future transmission lines is also a hot potato in California, with developers pitted against ratepayers in some cases.

Conceptual Renewable Energy Transmission Export Projects

Some California officials, like State Assembly member Manuel Perez, who represents geothermal resource-rich Imperial County, also oppose the development of cross-border transmission lines. At the conference, Perez asked, "Why do we have geothermal energy imported into California? We have 3,400 megawatts of potential geothermal energy in the Salton Sea area." He would like to block the construction of transmission lines from Nevada, the state with the greatest concentration of geothermal energy, to California, citing a preference to keep jobs at home, building transmission lines from his county to California load centers, where needed. "We have close to 30 percent unemployment in Imperial County," he observed.

California Governor Jerry Brown also favors in-state transmission projects, supporting the position of some affected unions in the state, according to one private sector transmission line developer who asked not to be identified. The governor's position became clear in an August 2011 letter by Michael Picker, the senior advisor to the governor for renewable energy facilities, addressing the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. In the letter, Picker reportedly supported state self-sufficiency in terms of future renewable energy needs. The council members previously had been hoping to supply California with much of its need for renewable energy to meet the high state RPS.

Stacey Crowley, the director of the Nevada Office of Energy, in Carson City, said in an interview at the Summit that her state is studying the economic impact of cross-border transmission line development, with the assistance of an outside consultant, to assign potential benefits to each involved state. California and Nevada also announced a new effort last week to work together to review transmission line development between the two states, she noted. "We're not only working with California, but also other Western states on transmission line development," she said. Overall, Nevada is planning three new transmission lines to more fully integrate the state with its neighbors, as part of the work of a new state energy industry task force.

Jan Smutny-Jones, the executive director of the Independent Energy Producers Association, a Sacramento-based trade association, suggested that multi-state grid connections will continue to handle variations in state electricity demand, despite any transitory political resistance: "The Western grid has always been inter-dependent and it will continue to be."

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I avoid being bogged in blogging, as the web is full of posers, echos and trolls. Being new to this forum I will state, that as a retired, professional engineer who had dedicated my life to the study of science and history, it is obvious that we live in a monarch-monopolist controlled false paradigm. For a summary of a few selected science defects read "Becoming a TOTAL Earth Science Sceptic". I am co-author of the science text, "Slaying the Sky Dragon" on the false science of Carbon climate forcing. I am co-founder of Principia Scientific International, with a host of peer reviewed articles on incorrect Earth science. I am host of the non-blog site http://www.FauxScienceSlayer.com and author of +100 articles on the intentional FRAUDS by the neo-feudalists. My work has been posted at Drudge Report, Breitbart, Canada Free Press, Freeman Institute, InfoWars and read into the US Congressional Record. A brief summary of the Carbon commodity fraud is in my radio interview with Dennis Miller under the "Link" tab at my website. There is blindness induced by the forces of darkness and there is blindness due to willful ignorance. Only the ignorant make useful slaves. Find and share Truth, it is your duty as an Earthling. It is time for an New Magna Carta.

Dear "faus-science-slayer", be careful as you walk down the street. With your extreme blindness to the truth around you, you might walk hard into a lamppost, causing serious confusion. Come to think of it, maybe you already have...

Government funding has distorted all science into "outcome based education", creating and reinforcing a series of interlocking false parameters, creating a false paradigm. There is NO Carbon climate forcing, photovoltaics never return a fraction of the Carbon fuel investment and petroleum is a renewable energy. On photovoltiacs see "Green Prince of Darkness". On aboigenic oil, see "Fossil Fuel is Nuclear Waste". On the gross underestimation of geothermal energy see, "Expanding Earth's Geothermal Debate". On the fundamental flaw that makes all of these government funded lies mandatory, read "Fractional Reserve Banking Begat Faux Reality".

If humanity is ever freed to discover and utilize the full potential of this planet, we would create an Eden of plenty for all. It is time for a New Magna Carta.

Government funding has distorted all science into "outcome based education", creating and reinforcing a series of interlocking false parameters, creating a false paradigm. There is NO Carbon climate forcing, photovoltaics never return a fraction of the Carbon fuel investment and petroleum is a renewable energy. On photovoltiacs see "Green Prince of Darkness". On aboigenic oil, see "Fossil Fuel is Nuclear Waste". On the gross underestimation of geothermal energy see, "Expanding Earth's Geothermal Debate". On the fundamental flaw that makes all of these government funded lies mandatory, read "Fractional Reserve Banking Begat Faux Reality".

If humanity is ever freed to discover and utilize the full potential of this planet, we would create an Eden of plenty for all. It is time for a New Magna Carta.

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Charles W. Thurston is a journalist who specializes in renewable energy, from finance to technological processes. He has been active in the industry for over 25 years, living and working in locations ranging from Brazil to Papua New Guinea...